Kaoboi Bebobp

Sorry but what is LTA? Do you simply mean warranty major inspection?

Land Transport Authority.

Aha. I just looked that up. The LTA is in Singapore. Never been there. In Thailand it's Department of Land Transport (DLT). Anyway there's an authorized private vehicle inspection station on Sukhumvit, north of Pattaya North, after the Caltex and maybe even after the following Shell station, in the northbound lanes. Has a big green sign and open garage entrance area. Good service there.

Sorry but what is LTA? Do you simply mean warranty major inspection?

Yesterday at Pattaya's Big C Extra. Check out staff still standing at the tills waiting for a customer to check out.

That reminded me I saw the same thing yesterday. Big C X always used to be very busy on a Monday. I, at first, didn't know what to do because there were several empty checkout lanes. That was a weird feeling.

There's a road, east of the railway bypass, linking Nern Pub Wan to Khao Noi. On the Khao Noi end, it's Boonsamphan 3/1. The linking road, maybe half a km long, starts right beside the PT gas station. It makes for a nice quiet, unimpeded walk, passing Chatkaew Hotel in the middle of a traffic circle to Khao Noi (Boonsamphan).

I hadn't done this walk in months until yesterday. I counted no less than 10 homes for sale, two of which also offered rental on the properties. They were all very nice, mostly small, neat, clean home/shophouses, and two or three were standalone two-storey homes. Many were empty. It had the feeling of an exodus. I walked onto Khao Noi and eastward around noon. Didn't see a single customer in all the restaurants or no one on the streets, except for the odd motorcycle. There was one foreigner restaurant, empty except for what I guessed was the owner, crouched over his laptop.

As I said, I walked it before but do not remember seeing more than a couple of For Sale signs. I recounted the homes on the way back. There were some signs entirely in Thai and they may very well have been for sale.

The reason could be people moved to the beach side of Sukhumvit to avoid the whole lengthy detour pain in the ass for the next three years. Or Thais and foreigner tenants simply up and left Pattaya or were forced to leave. In any case, it was very eerie.

Until over a week ago, Chinese and Koreans made up 50% of the passengers on the Pattaya-BKK bus. Both terminals were teeming with travellers. I do this run 3-4 times a month. Last Saturday they made up maybe 15%. Same on my Sunday return. The stations looked almost abandoned. The interval between buses stretched to a half hour from the usual 10-15 minutes.

I will see what happens this Thursday on my next trip. But international traveller numbers are sinking. Most of the passengers were Indian, Pakistani, farangs and Thai.

Oh, the bus fare was cut to 115 baht.

Was in Central Plaza Rama 9 last week and walked out of the TOPS supermarket in the basement, the busiest floor in the place. Saw a Vitamin Club outlet and the Blackmores supplement products from Australia. I buy Exec Bs, a B-complex item. The regular shelf price was 50 baht cheaper (at 440 bt) than the discounted price at Fascino's in Pattaya. I was asked if I have a membership card. I did not but I forgot to ask what the discount would be. It's got to be at least 10%. So take 44 baht off the shelf price (that's 396 bt), making it almost 100 baht cheaper than in Pattaya! Was shocked that I could save so muc in an expensive Bangkok mall shop.

Goes to prove what others above are saying about meds/supplements being much cheaper in Bangkok and also says how much more Pattaya shops try to get away with. Also, in a small sampling, products I buy regularly at Foodland and Villa in Pattaya are often a bit cheaper in Bangkok in the same supermarkets.

Don't know if you can wait, but over the years, I've found good quality frames are best bought back in the home country and far cheaper, at least they are in Canada. Also better quality glass, as I found out this spring after having to replace Thai-bought lenses again.

LOL. I've forgotten about TOPs Express. The last one I remember would be what is now a big Family Mart on Nern Pub Wan. Reminds me of the "usefulness" of the mini Tesco Lotus behind Num Chai home electrics store on Suk.

Except, Minnehaha, if a speed-crazed, reckless driver wrecks a friend of yours. Not such a comfortable thought, is it?

Since this is a Pattaya News Clipping . . . I live on the Darkside, Nern Pub Wan. In late evening, it's like a race track, with teenaged kids nearly doubling the speed of other drivers. Last night, sitting on my bar patio perch, a group off six motos with 2 or 3 kids on each blasted up and down Nern Pub Wan, destined to kill someone or themselves. Even after 5 straight years here, it's shocking the disregard they have for others on the road and equally shocking the disregard they have for their own lives. The police roll merrily along to the station near this bar/restaurant, never ever stopping anyone as speedsters blast right by them, old and young alike. Well, there's nothing to do. Except I fear for my life every day I get on my moto. I've had enough. I'd rather drive in Bangkok where there seems to be some semblance of motoring behaviour. But I won't need a moto there so I will sell mine soon.

And now Tops supermarket at 2nd Road / Pattaya Klang is closing down. One of the girls said they have been there 15 years but now the 2 million Baht/ month rent is too much. You look at the Pattaya ( bad ) News Clippings

and its not surprising that for alot of folks the enough is enough - the Thais can have this place - point has been reached.

One of the most useless TOPS supermarkets I've ever been in. Every six months or so I venture in. There's maybe 3 or 4 customers, if that, and I never see anything to buy. Contrast this with the one in Central Plaza Rama 9 in Bangkok. Stupendous market.

The closing is another sign that foreigners of the Euro/NorthAm/Oz kind are leaving. As am I. Moving back to Bangkok in a couple of weeks as a short-term interim measure. During which I will spend some time in Saigon. What a dynamic city. Love visiting there.

Just an additional piecd of information that I learned when I got my single entry permit this week. The single entry valid to date means that when you re-enter you can still only stay until 17 Nov 2015. However, if you leave the country again before 17th Nov get a multi-entry permit, and when you return you will get a 12 month extension. e.g. you come back to Thailand on 15th Sept, on your current permit you, your passport will be stamped and the valid to date will be 17 Nov. However if you should leave the country again, say on 1 October, and you have a multi-entry re-entry permit, and your return date is 4th Nov, your passport will be stamped with a valid to date of 3 Nov 2016. Immigration explained to me that the 12 month extension on re-entry only applies to multi-entry re-entry permits. The Immigration web site does not make this clear. It gives the impression that a 12 month extension is given every time you return to Thailand. So I know that next time, I'll be getting a multi-entry re-entry permit.

Not so. You are confusing the O-A Long Stay Multi-entry visa (obtainable only in your homeland) with extensions and re-entry permits (obtainable only inside Thailand). If you are in Thailand on extensions (retirement, marriage, etc.), you must have a re-entry permit to come back into Thailand. Re-entry permits expire with your extension expiry date. There are no free extra years. You just have to renew your extension, plus get a new re-entry permit.

As others said to the OP, that number in the upper left of your re-entry permit is your new (visa) number. Write this on the Arrival form in the visa number area.

Here on the Darkside, the 7-11/Family Mart staff are pretty much all great. In fact, I've recently detected a better facility for English among clerks. Quite possibly the younger new staff have had better English lessons or 7-11/FM sharpened their English training. Staff at other shops seem pretty nice too. As soon as you cross to the neon lights side, it's very hit and miss. At Big C Extra on Klang, not too many show anything but efficiency.

There are lots of foreigners not coming here anymore. My friends, most of whom live in Bangkok, say one night is enough in Pattaya. Most won't come at all. I get the idea that foreigners who live upcountry are the ones who come to Pattaya to get away from the wife and family. But overall, most foreigners I come in contact with outside Pattaya don't like to come here at all: "Because it's not like it used to be." On a recent couple of trips to Cambodia, every day I met someone who used to live in Thailand or Pattaya. That's all my Phnom Penh hotel-owning friends tell me. Lots of Thailand "refugees."

I've only eaten various breakfast items at Anton's. I find them to be as good as any other farang resto in the Pattaya area. My favourite is the (menu item No. 15) home fries mixed with fried bacon bits and bacon omelette. Bacon overload but potatoes and egg dish are extremely tasty. My only problem is the indifferent service. Though it has improved since I've become a semi-regular.

I called a couple of days ago and was told it would re-open in a week, so that would put it about Aug. 27, but don't count on that.

Very amizing, a french citizen has been arrested at BKK, Police think explosive could be TNT or C4,

few weeks ago 20 kg of C4 desapear from a french military storage in south of this country....

How many drinks did you have this morning?

France don't have any military storage in Thailand, try to get sober next time you post more BS.

You must to stop to drink too,.............Refer to other post......

Bander, you really need to get with the program. Do some reading before issuing statements that were stale before posting. The issue of a French storage facility was already established to be in France, scene of the theft. And poster Than is not a native English speaker. Lighten up.

I have a friend with the same budget. He's lived in 3 lovely condos on Suk 23, 39 and 45. In two cases, he's had to move because of a new condo being raised outside his windows. In the latest one on 39, he feels he has to move again this fall for the same reason. By the way, the agent lied to him about 45, saying the new condo building was only going to be 8 storeys when it's (still) heading for 30+. So, just a warning about your choice. Do a recon around the area of the place you like.

I think they would target Phuket and Hua Hin before thinking about Pattaya city. Besides if it was an Arab he would not bomb his favourite city in Thailand.

Well sure, Phuket is world famous.

Hua Hin isn't well known internationally but I get the connection we can't really discuss.

As far as is this Muslim related ... there is no way to know that yet but I am betting not.

Which follows nicely from your earlier comment:

There are numerous possibilities of what group is behind it. For example an internal Thai political group, not related to Islam, that feels it is in their benefit to economically destabilize Thailand via the tourism industry. Then Pattaya would be on the list.

Yes, I think your hammer is plunging toward the right nail. A particularly effective way would be to scare off the Chinese (and Asians), which would hit the heart of Thailand's tourism hopes. Enough said.

An actually pretty Miss Thailand. Amazing.

Talk about missing a story by referring to her nickname and not spelling out how she got it. Well, it might have been interesting. And then maybe not. Might have to wait for an enterprising international press reporter to do the story right.

FWIW, the Chinese are everywhere in Pattaya these days, thronging the streets, buses and tourist sites. Been seeing more and more of them the last few months. Don't know if there's a low season for the scourge.

^^^I would add that if the shop is eager to take your US dollars, you are about to be drycleaned because the shop gets a cut from you and a good rate from the gold shop. They win both ways. Lucky if you get 15-18K to the buck if they think you're really stupid. If you use dong, all you have to do is read the price tag and fork over the dong. But if the clerk gets out the calculator, it might as well be a clothes hanger because you are about to be hung out to dry.

Do not use US$ to pay for things in Vietnam, you won't get a good deal.. Change whatever currency you have into Dong. I've lived there for a decade. I know what I'm talking about.

^^^This. US dollars are not accepted everywhere and you leave yourself open to a (guaranteed) ripoff. Example: A bottle of 500 ml water is 4500 dong. If you give $1, you will likely only get 15,000 dong back (if you buy from a non-chain mart and are lucky). The rate -- now at 22,000 -- should give you more change. A riverside kiosk one time asked for 50,000 dong for the same bottle of water. I couldn't help but laugh and walked away to a minimart.

If your visitor's experience is that they are accepted everywhere, then you probably didn't leave District 1 in HCMC. I lived there too. You want to take out dong from the ATM because ALL displayed prices are in dong, rarely are they also displayed in US$. The pain is that you can only take out 2,000,000 dong at a time, about $95US at most ATMs. At one time Sacombank let me take out 4 million, but they don't anymore. Try Agri-Bank ATMs, I remember getting more than 2 mil out, but that particular case was 2 years ago.

The other option is to buy AmEx cheques. Warning: your signature at the bank has to be exactly duplicated or they'll make you do it until you get it right before they give you the cash.

I find the prices and service at Fascino's to be good. I never buy at Boots or Watsons as these shops have higher prices. As for local individual pharmacys, you can find even better prices if you search around. The problem is having the time to do that search. It can save you some substantial money, but it depends on your willingness to invest the time. I mostly use Fascinos but recently bought a heart medication at BKK Pattaya Hospital. It was cheaper than any place I'd ever been to! Go figure!

Have to agree the service at Fascino's is good. I think people shop at Watson's or Boots out of old habits. Seems to me, looking at the meds shelf in those shops, they don't have very much. And the staff don't seem terribly helpful. I shopped at an independent pharmacy when I lived near Big C Extra. The youngish Thai-Chinese lady owner was a pharmacist and always very helpful. However, her prices were a bit higher.

Am going to BKK this weekend and will check the prices on my BP meds at the above mentioned shops. Thanks all.

Go to the pharmacies on Rama 4 near Surawongse in Bangkok and you save substantially more than the Fascino pharmacy on Rama 4. There is no competition here in Pattaya.

Thanks for that tip. My meds bill is only about 1000 baht a month but I go to BKK 2-3x a month anyway so I will follow up. And as per my earlier post, I couldn't believe the price difference on Buakhao to Klang of 150 baht. The Buakhao place wouldn't budge on price.

Question: anyone seen B-complex supplements by Blackmores in Bangkok? 60 caps bottle is 470 baht at Faschino's

SM Negra has been around for many years in the Philippines. Never seen it here though.

Beer in the RP is vastly superior to Thailand's, and cheaper too.

Beer in Weatherspoon's is vastly superior to Thailand's and cheaper too.

This reminds me of Witherspoon's on Buakhao (in Pattaya, Thailand). One of the best selections of beer in town. Beer Lao light and dark, San Miguel Pale Pilsener, Old Speckled Hen, loads of Belgians etc.

Soi Kopai has several used furniture shops, shoulder to shoulder, closer to Pattaya Tai than Thep Phrasit.